Kathy Zubrycki oversees the training of instructors who train guide dogs and their future owners.
The New Paltz resident commutes to the national/international headquarters of Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Yorktown Heights, where she is director of training and admissions. Working in the field for 32 years, she grew up admiring guide dogs and instructors in her native Morristown, N. J., location of the first U.S. guide dog school.
Training involves a three-way scrutiny of instructors, guide dogs and their future owners, Zubrycki explained.
“An instructor begins as an entry instructor assistant,” she said. “Each is involved in general care of the dogs and kennel operation. They spend one day a week in our veterinarian hospital and are also schooled in how to manage large populations of dogs in a kennel environment. Newcomers are assigned to teams of instructors.
“It is not easy work. They put in many miles. Each instructor is assigned 10 dogs, with five months to prepare them.”
Guiding Eyes for the Blind uses predominantly Labrador retrievers, Zubrycki said. “Trainers work in all weather and varied environments, assessing each dog”™s ability to become a successful guide.”
Guiding Eyes dogs are especially bred at a Canine Development Center in Patterson. After eight weeks, they are placed in volunteer homes. At age 16 months they transfer to Yorktown Heights.
“Some dogs are better suited to other work,” Zubrycki said. “Extremely boisterous dogs may go to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for detection work. Some work in airport security. A puppy raiser can adopt a dog back that proves unsuitable for guide work.”
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Blind persons applying to Guiding Eyes must be able to travel independently with a cane, Zubrycki pointed out. A representative visits the home to determine the best type of dog and evaluate the environment.
The cost of training one dog and one owner amounts to $45,000, Zubrycki said. “The new owner pays nothing. No government funding is involved. Grants and donations support the effort,” she explained.
Zubrycki was particularly pleased with a cooperative effort several years ago. “A client who acquired a dog at age 18 developed seizure activity and called to see if his dog could be cross-trained to deal with this new reality,” she recalled. “We contacted a school which trains service dogs for the disabled. A trainer simulated seizure symptoms and taught the dog to either locate the man”™s mother or step on a lifeline pedal. This was the first dog in the nation trained this way. The young man went on to become a college graduate.”
Zubrycki”™s greatest challenge was a kennel renovation to provide a quieter environment for the community. “Where to put 80 dogs?” she pondered. Staff members volunteered to house the canines at home, bringing them back and forth.
Zubrycki had initially studied to become a special education teacher. Her career path changed, and she became an instructor at the Morristown school after meeting Morris Frank, father of the guide dog movement.
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She met her husband, Ted Zubrycki, when he was director of training at the Yorktown Heights facility, where he later became director of the special needs program. She joined him there as an instructor. “He died seven years ago,” she said. “He left a long legacy. His special needs program remains an important component of our work.”
Zubrycki reported alumni throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, with graduates scattered on three other continents. Guiding Eyes maintains a Web site at www.guidingeyes.org.
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